HAH! I got you all pretty good. That was a joke, but I'm not bringing in Durge. Sure, he would be a challenge for our heroes, but he was sent hurtling into a sun by Anakin during the last year of the Clone War and there wouldn't be much genetic material left of that ugly MOF. So, for those who didn't like the guy, he won't be appearing.
Now as for who will take Tyrian's place, it will be a certain Bounty Hunter that was active during the Clone War and I'm not talking about Aurra Sing. You'll just have to guess who it is.
Anyway, onto the reviews.
First off to the guest reviewers Tetrabot, Hawk Tamer and Gyroball: I'm going to be plain here. I hate serial killers. Those like Billy Kincaid, Tyrian and a certain psycho from the Fate series with an equally insane 'heroic' spirit make me sick and are the kind of people I would want to see killed by Golgo 13 or the Predator.
Monster King: Thanks.
Chaotic Skunk Demon: Trust me, I planned on having someone kick Jacque's ass for a long time, so Hevy and Hardcase were the right choices in my mind. Wrecker would also be one of the guys who would kick him in the nuts. Nut shots make me laugh. And sorry about the confusion. Plus, Akatsuki is funny, I agree with you on that.
Jack Smith 1: If you must do a rewrite, go right ahead, just don't go and quit writing. It would be a shame if you just gave up and didn't finish your stories.
Infinity Prime: Thanks. Also, that Skillet song is one of my favorites as well, especially when it comes to music videos that I watch on YouTube.
54godamora: I told you that I was going to make some changes to the actual canon. Let's see, Pyrrha and Tukson are still alive, Penny wasn't 'killed' during the Vytal Festival and the virus Cinder planted in the CCT was removed. So that brings the total up to four changes to canon. Star Wars visions is pretty good, I think I might use one of the characters from the episode taking place after the last movie into the story, maybe. I always love giving Jacque what he deserves. Like I said before and it's what Deadpool said, 'I don't trust guys with porno mustaches.
Luffy L Deathwalker: Nope, Tyrian is dead for good. If he does come back, it will only be as a zombie and that is very unlikely. Don't know a lot about Sith Necromancy, so its probably not going to happen. Also, I think I'll put in a brief appearance of your OC at the end of Volume 4.
42: You'll be surprised at who will be brought in to replace Tyrian and the guy I'm going to replace him with isn't as crazy as Tyrian was, besides I hate that guy. HE'S CRAZY!
Alright onto the story. Disclaimers are the same as always.
Chapter 54: A Much-Needed Talk
Night came down fast as Galen, Ruby, Qrow, Jaune, Ren, Nora, Boba and the eight clones sat around the recently constructed campfire, having listened to Qrow tell the tale about the Maidens. There was a long silence in the air as Qrow took a swing from his flask. "Really? No questions?" Qrow inquired.
"Of course, we have questions. This is just… a lot to take in." Jaune answered, much to Qrow's understanding.
"So, these… Maidens… They're powerful fighters that don't need Dust to use magic." Ruby double checked.
"Yeah."
"And there are four of them?" Nora asked.
"Yup. Always." Qrow answered.
"Which means that, whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone – a female – that they cared about?" Ren added.
"Whoever was in their thoughts last. Important distinction. Best option is someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined, in a way." Qrow explained.
"And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha… the night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them." Jaune realized, a little angry.
"The previous Fall Maiden, Amber Autumn, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know as Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well. The only mistake we made was not telling Trigger about his sister." Qrow clarified, muttering something about Ironwood underneath his breath.
"So, you tried to force it on Pyrrha." Jaune said angrily.
"We didn't force anything. We explained the situation and gave her the choice, at first, she chose not to inherit the powers and Plo had a backup plan to send Amber to another planet where the Rebellion would help treat her wounds and keep her safe from Cinder, but then the Empire came into the picture. You were there and you told her she was in charge of her own destiny." Qrow reminded Jaune, who then got up from the campfire and walked several feet away.
Ruby then asked about the now deceased Tyrian and why he was after her. Qrow let out a sigh and explained once more. "Well, you definitely painted a target on your back with what you did at Beacon. I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you were able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes. Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you in order to make sure you were safe. All of you."
"Well, then, why not just travel with us? It seems like that would have been way easier." Ruby asked.
"He was using you as bait." Jaune answered loudly enough for him to be heard, but still kept his back turned.
"That's not something I'd approve of." Boba said in agreement. Qrow tried to explain that situation wasn't quite the way Jaune had painted it to be and was demanding to know why the world was on the brick of war and they needed to know the whole picture.
Qrow slouched over with a sigh before asking Jaune to take a seat on log he was sitting on, who did so but crossed his arms while Qrow took another swig from his flask. "Not many people are super religious these days. This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real." Qrow began.
"They were two brothers. The older sibling, the God of Light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, planets, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the God of Darkness brought drought, fire, famine, and all he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something – something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything." Qrow narrated.
"The creatures of Grimm." Ruby answered.
"Wait! You mean this God of Darkness created the Grimm, because he was jealous of his older brother, the God of Light?" Wrecker asked in confusion.
"You guessed it, big guy. You to Ruby." Qrow replied, before he continued his story. "The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation… together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow – the path of light or the path of darkness. And that it is how Humanity came to be."
"But… what does that have to do with us?" Ren inquired.
"Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind – knowledge, creation, destruction and choice – aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the Gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanities protectors, but they serve another purpose – guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the Relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself… and, of course keeping them out of her reach." Qrow answered. "So yeah, there's that."
"Her. You mean Salem?" Ruby asked.
"That's right. Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the Relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well." Qrow answered. He then turned his gaze to Galen who hadn't said a single word since this whole talk started. "Then there's also the matter of how you know of her. Who told you about Salem?"
"Summer told me about Salem." Galen answered.
Qrow was taken aback by the revelation. "No, that can't be true. That's impossible. Summer's dead. She vanished years ago and never came back. I went searching for her and didn't find a single trace of her. If this is a joke, it's not very funny." Qrow snapped.
"It's not a joke. It's the truth. Summer was the one who asked me to protect Ruby when I first came to Remnant and told me all she knows about Salem. Somehow, Salem has managed to get her hands on a large droid army and is using it to acquire the relics. She seems to have knowledge about the Jedi and the force and somehow was able to create Grimm infused with technology and looking very similar to the Manti. There's still a lot we don't know about her, but I for one am not going to let her get away with attacking my friends or go after the girl I love." Galen said aloud.
Halfway across the world, under the shattered moon that shined over her home, Blake stood on the second story outside her father's office by the empty birdcage. Her eyes turned to the sky when she heard the twin engines of several F4's and F5's from over the ocean, belonging to the Menagerie guard. Though they weren't as advanced as the Daggers, Sabers and Sentinel fighters, the pilots of the Menagerie guard were trained by Captain Bartlett at the request of Blake's father four years ago. Some of the aircraft used by the guard were either stolen by the White Fang, but most of them were liberated from pirates who used them in attacking the island continent out of bigotry.
As Blake watched the fighters commence their combat-air-patrol missions, she was startled when her mother startled her, carrying a tray with a tea set on it. "You know, you can always go in a say hi." Kali pointed out.
"I don't want to bother him." Blake replied.
"A father's never too busy for his daughter." Kali stated.
"Not all of my friends would agree with you on that." Blake said, thinking about Weiss's father who was a pathetic excuse for a father. She was taken aback when her mother suddenly kissed her on the cheek and handed her the tray. "What? Where are you going?" she questioned.
"You've never been very talkative, but that boy you brought home loves to run his mouth. I wanna hear more about the adventures of Team RWBY. Plus, the girl, two troopers and Jedi are out of the house right now. I think Zett said he was going to the airbase while Rose and the troopers were going to have a look around town." Kali told her daughter before she walked away.
The tray in Blake's hands shook when she heard her father call for mother who was already out of earshot. Her nervousness caused her to let out a quiet whine before she slid the porch door open and stepped into her father's office, just as he was straightening some paperwork on his desk. "Uh, hey dad." She said nervously.
"Blake! Well, this is a pleasant surprise." Ghira said in surprise. Blake was about to speak when her father offered her a seat at an oversized coffee table and lounge furniture. Blake set the tea set at the end of the table where her father was sitting. "Don't worry, I've got it." he told his daughter and began to pour her some tea.
Blake wanted to leave her father to his business, but Ghira argued that he'd been cooped up in his office all day doing paperwork and needed a break. He put a sugar cube in the cup nearest Blake after he finished pouring the tea. "You still take sugar, right?" Ghira asked Blake.
"Oh, actually, uh-" Blake began but Ghira cut her off, apologizing nervously, stating it was an old habit of his. Blake took the cup closest to her and took a sip and winced with a tiny exclamation of pain, having forgotten how hot her drink was.
There was a long silence before Ghira spoke up. "So… is it… warm… in Vale?" he asked.
"Huh?" Blake questioned, putting her cup down on the table.
"It just… seems like your outfit doesn't cover very much." Ghira added.
"It covers plenty." Blake snapped, after looking down at herself and crossed her arms.
"I mean, a little more armor might help. Don't you think?" Ghira suggested.
"I'm fine. I don't need armor. I can look after myself." Blake said in her own defense.
"I… I know you can. I'm sorry." Ghira sighed, setting his own cup down on the table while Blake's expression saddened as she looked away, bowing her head.
"Why would you say that? How can you still love me after what I did?" Blake asked her father. Like any good father, Ghira got up from his seat on the couch and sat beside his daughter, putting an arm around her and telling her no matter what, he and Kali would always love Blake. "You were right. I shouted at you and yelled at you. But you were right. I called you cowards! I should have left the White Fang with you and Mom. I should've listened to you, and I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Blake said remorsefully.
Seeing his daughter cry, Ghira turned her head by the chin to wipe a tear away from his daughter's eye with his thumb. "Blake, it's fine. We never held anything against you, and I never feared you would fail. The only thing I feared was that you would fall down the wrong path, and I am so proud to see you haven't." Ghira told his daughter.
"But I did! I was—" she sniffled and lowered her face again.
And you pulled yourself out. You came back. There aren't many who possess that kind of strength and even fewer that have the courage to face their demons again. Vale, Mountain Glenn, Beacon – you confronted the White Fang time after time and the same could be said for that empire you fought against." Ghira said to his daughter with a sense of proudness in his voice.
"I didn't do it alone." Blake admitted.
"No, you didn't. Which is why I wanted to ask you… why did you leave Vale? Why did you leave your friends behind?" Ghira asked. Before Blake could answer her father, the porch door fell inward with Sun on top of it with a yelp.
"Sun?!" Blake shouted affronted and stood up as a certain cowgirl walked out from the porch. "Rose?"
"D'yuh! Whoa! This isn't the bathroom! Uh, I'll just be going! Sorry to interrupt this tender family moment!" Sun said with an awkward giggle while trying to recover from the situation.
Both Ghira and Blake glared at Sun. Blake's right ear twitched while her father took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. "I really don't like you." Ghira said bluntly to Sun who just chuckled nervously before he received a whack to the head and had his tail pulled by Rose.
"YEOUCH!" Sun screamed loudly.
"Sorry about that. Monkey boy here doesn't understand the concept of knocking first before entering a room. Just so you know, I wasn't eavesdropping and only just got back." Rose apologized before grabbing Sun by the ear and pulled him away. "Come on, Blake. Let's go give Mr. Monkey a little talk."
"I can, ow… walk on my own you know, you… ow don't need to pull my ear." Sun said in pain as he was dragged away by Rose with Blake following the two of them close behind.
Meanwhile, at the airbase of the Menagerie guard, Zett took a good long look at the line of aircraft the guard used in protecting the island from hostile threats. One aircraft caught his interest, an old F-8 Wildcat. The F8 Wildcat was a single seat, single engine supersonic, air-superiority carrier-based fighter once used by the Vale Navy before it was replaced by the F4 and later the F14. A titanium made airframe surrounded the plane's fuselage and powerful afterburning turbojet engine, giving the aircraft a top speed of Mach 1.86, faster than the F5's Mach 1.63. Mounted in the planes lower fuselage were four 20mm cannons, each of which carried six hundred rounds per gun. Due to the guns, it earned the nickname 'The Last Gunfighter'. In terms of hardpoints, it carried two side fuselage mounted Y-pylons and two underwing hardpoints for its missiles, rocket pods and bombs.
While the Menagerie guard possessed no carriers or had any bombs available, they made good use of these planes when it came to patrolling both the coast and desert of the island. In fact, it was said that the Wildcat that Zett was looking at was piloted by Sienna Khan herself during the time she spent training under Captain Bartlett, long before she became High Leader of the White Fang.
Putting his hand on the plane's fuselage, Zett took notice of the scratches on the planes body, indicating that the plane was used extensively by the leader of the White Fang in protecting the island from pirates and other threats. 'Sienna Khan is the leader of the White Fang, a group that claims to despise humans with a passion for their treatment of her people, yet at the same time, Trigger met with her to ask for Fulcrum's assistance with the Malevolence. Could it be possible that both are one in the same?' Zett thought to himself before he removed his hand from the plane and headed back to the Belladonna home.
Back in Anima, Team RNJR, Galen and the clones still sat around the campfire after listening to Qrow's tale about the gods, the Maidens and Salem. Everyone was quiet until finally, Jaune broke the silence. "Alright. So, let's say we believe all this. There really is this crazy evil being behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to be powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?" he demanded.
"And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven? Shouldn't we be getting them a message? What if they're next?" Nora added.
"The headmaster over there saw what happened to Beacon. He's not dumb. He'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned out that attack on Beacon overnight?" Qrow questioned Jaune before he continued. "And to answer your question, it's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. There'd be another Great War on our hands, and this time, you'd have to fight."
Jaune turned away before Qrow continued to speak. "Look, I had the same questions, too. But ol' Ozpin always put his foot down. "We can't cause a panic." Heh, can't tell you how many times I've heard that. Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us – Humanity, and so far, she's done a pretty damn good job." Qrow pointed out.
"Let's not forget that Salem has an army of Clankers working for her." Rex reminded the group. "Somehow, she's managed to gather thousands of battle droids that are still online and ready for a war. Not just infantry, but tanks, fighters and starships. Someone must have given her the location of the ships that carried these droids to the planet, much like our ships did at the end of the war and she's been using them, along with the Grimm to attack the planet. And that's only the tip of the iceberg, she managed to form an alliance with the Empire and somehow supplied the White Fang with weapons and equipment for their 'war' with humanity. There's a bigger picture here we aren't seeing, but right now our objective is clear."
"It is?" Nora asked.
"Yeah. We find this Salem and kick her butt!" Wrecker proclaimed, punching his hands together.
"No, we get to Haven and protect the school and the relic. Atlas will be high alert, knowing Ironwood and Vacuo is on its own, as much as it pains me to say it. Ozpin may trust the other headmasters and the schools are important to stopping her, but since Cinder and her allies claim to be from Haven, it's obviously going to be the next target. I tried contacting the headmaster shortly before the Vytal Festival to ask him about those three, but all my calls were redirected. Either he has the answers about those three, or we're even more in the dark then we think." Hunter corrected, much to Wrecker's dismay.
"Alright then, I think it's time we all get some sleep." Qrow said and stood up, preparing to leave the others alone, but not before Ruby asked him why he didn't travel with them, or trust them with the information just shared with them, but Qrow just said it was a long story, along with something about crows being a sign of bad luck, before he went for a walk.
As Ruby watched her uncle leave them be, she looked back to Galen and smiled at her boyfriend. Seeing Galen brought a smile to her face, but that smile soon faded when she saw Galen leave the campfire and took a walk himself. Sensing something was wrong, she followed Galen.
She soon caught up with Galen who had taken a seat on the banks of a nearby stream. "I thought when Vader stabbed you, I'd never see you again. I thought you were dead." She admitted.
"To be honest, I almost wished I did die." Galen told her, surprising her. "When I fought Vader, I almost gave into the dark side. Every day, I kept having nightmares of returning to Vader's side and ended up killing you. I didn't want to come back to Remnant, but Pyrrha helped me through it and told me that I'm not that person I used to be. I'm a Jedi, like my father and mother before me and that I was her friend. That pep talk she gave me really helped. Jaune's lucky to have someone like her."
"Every day, I kept telling myself I would see you again and now that it's happened, I hope you don't leave me again." Ruby said, taking a seat by Galen's side.
"I love you; Ruby and I'm not going anywhere. If I must go back and help the rebellion, you're coming with me. We'll stop Salem, Cinder and her associates together and we'll find your mother. I promise you." Galen told his girlfriend. Both teens smiled at each other before they shared a short but sweat kiss.
Back in Menagerie, Sun got his face slapped by Blake who wasn't too pleased that he had eavesdropped on the conversation she was having with her father. "Ugh! No concept of privacy, no respect for personal space!" Blake groaned with frustration. Rose just stood by and watched with a bit of a smirk on her face at Sun's dilemma which in her mind was a bit funny.
"I'm sorry, okay?!" Sun tried to apologize only to get slapped again. "Ow, I'm sorry!" he said again, only for Blake to groan and angrily turned her back to him and marched a few steps away. "Look, I promise it was important! I needed to find you and talk to you!" he tried to explain.
"What, Sun? What could be so important?!" Blake demanded.
"I was talking to your mom, and she said something weird about the White Fang!" he began only for Blake to remind him that she didn't come home to fight the White Fang. "Look, I know you didn't come here to fight the White Fang, but just listen ok! Your mom said White Fang members don't wear masks in Menagerie. But I saw one at the market yesterday! I even have a picture!" Sun continued, pulling out his scroll from his back pocket.
"Sun!" Blake exclaimed.
"Look, I'm trying to help! I don't care if you want my help or not, but even if you aren't here to fight the White Fang, the White Fang may still come after you!" Sun yelled only to have Blake toss his scroll into the trees below.
"Calm the hell down, Blake. Getting angry with Sun won't help anyone. Look, even if he is an idiot, he's just trying to help you. Running away from your problems is only going to make things worse!" Rose exclaimed. Suddenly, all three of them heard a feminine gasping sound from the trees. The eyes of all three teens went wide before they turned in the direction of the gasp. Through the dark trees, they could see a dark humanoid shape wearing a white mask perched atop one of the palm trees.
Blake gasped as a female Faunus with thin, curved, dark grey horns and black, spotty skin wearing a black sleeveless stealth suit with a gold zipper and slightly lighter-black straps with gold buckles on it leapt into the, revealing their short legs, high-top boots and black hair that was pulled into a ponytail that curled up at the end before disappearing. "A freakin' ninja?!" Sun exclaimed, throwing his arms out.
"A spy!" Blake corrected, much to Sun's surprise only to be even more surprised when she jumped onto the railing and then into the trees.
"Hey wait!" Sun called out just as Kali and Zett stepped out from the corner and inside the house.
"What's happened?" she asked.
"The White Fang is evil, I totally called it and I'm bringing your daughter back!" Sun declared and leapt down from the second story deck while Kali's mouth dropped open for a moment, before she brought her hand up worried.
"Those two are going to need some help. Come on Zett!" Rose shouted to Zett who immediately followed the others. None of them knew that the same figure that Ghira spoke to days ago had been watching everything and dashed after them.
The following morning, in the ruins of Oniyuri, Tyrian's body laid on the ground untouched. However, that all changed when Maul's shadow stood over the body of the Faunus serial killer and knelt. "So, it seems that you failed, Tyrian. But your body is still of use to Salem." He said before picking up the body and loaded it onto his ship, which soon took off and headed back to Salem's domain.
Now what could Maul want with Tyrian's body? I can tell you it isn't something pretty and it just so you all know, for the last time; I FUCKING HATE TYRIAN! SERIAL KILLERS LIKE HIM MAKE ME SICK THAT I ENJOYED KILLING HIM OFF! ANYONE WHO SAY'S HE A GOOD CHARACTER IS OUT OF THEIR FUCKING MIND! HE'S PLAIN EVIL!
Sorry, like I said, I hate serial killers.
Now, the F8 Wildcat is basically the F8 Crusader which like the other planes has some modifications in terms of its ammo capacity for its guns. Whether you'll see it flying in future chapters, is uncertain.
Alright then, until my next chapter. Please read and review and if you all want to guess what Maul's plan for Tyrian's body is, go ahead and guess but I won't spoil anything.
Also, please give me your thoughts on dual Beretta 92's or an M16 rifle series/M203 grenade launcher combo for Star Wars: Hyper Lethal Vector. Until then, see you next time.